is soft washing chemical free · LaGrange, GA

is soft washing chemical free in LaGrange

In LaGrange, this comes up on historic-district houses, college-side streets, and the larger lots toward Vernon Road and Callaway. LaGrange clay does not rinse off a driveway with a garden hose, and shaded brick grows a green film by late summer. Owners who ask what is in the tank get an answer. That is the standard, including on the nicer streets.

January here is gutters full of oak, a porch that needs to look right for guests, and the odd jobs that got postponed all year.

A house can be washed with water and pressure. That is a rinse, or it is damage, depending on the surface. The reason soft washing exists is that organic growth laughs at a gentle rinse and a harsh rinse ruins the material. The thing that kills the growth is a chemical, almost always sodium hypochlorite. Pretending otherwise is how this industry got a reputation for fairy tales.

You may see ads for “plant-based” or “acid-free” or “no bleach.” Acid-free can be true of a hypochlorite wash, because hypochlorite is not an acid. “No bleach” is only true if they are not using hypochlorite or a relative of it. Ask. If the streaks on a roof disappear the same afternoon, something oxidized that algae. We use sodium hypochlorite and we say so.

Transparency is the product here, next to the wash. Alton will tell you what family of chemical is going on which surface, what it will not remove, and what we are doing about plants. If that is more detail than you wanted, it is still the detail you should have before a truck is in the drive.

The full explanation, without the town attached, is the we will not call a soft wash chemical-free article. The town does not change the chemistry. It changes the houses, the shade, and the clay.

House soft washing in LaGrange →